During clinical ultrasound examinations, the sonog-rapher often needs to measure the size of any cystic object seen in images of soft tissues such as a uterus, liver or breast. With conventional scanners, this requires the sonographer to manually locate the cyst and then measure the lengths of its long and short axes. For multiple cysts, it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to measure their sizes one by one. Therefore, a system that automatically locates cystic objects and measures their sizes would improve both patient throughput and measurement consistency.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,435 describes a method that automatically measures fetal body structures, such as femur length, humerus length and head circumference. This technique is suitable for use in obstetrical/gynecological applications, and measures multiple objects one at a time. The user also needs to specify one or two initial points on the object by manual control.
There is a need for a method of automatically detecting and sizing other types of tissue structures, in particular, cystic objects. Preferably, such a technique would not require the user to select any initial point. Instead, the whole process from selection of a search region to marking and measuring the cystic area would be automatic.